


twice in a lifetime

by PANDESOO



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - After College/University, Alternate Universe - College/University, College AU, I'm so sorry, JongKai as twins, M/M, Smut, also i love taemin i swear to god??, i wrote this on 193947292 cups of coffee, kyungsoo as the unlucky sap who gets to meet both of them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-26
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-12-20 03:08:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11911962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PANDESOO/pseuds/PANDESOO
Summary: Do Kyungsoo makes the crazy mistake of falling for the same face twice in one lifetime.





	twice in a lifetime

**Author's Note:**

  * For [indigomini](https://archiveofourown.org/users/indigomini/gifts).



> Sorry if it’s not the fanfic dicks prompt :((( Don’t worry, I remembered your request about the stage names, but for this fic it’s really inevitable to use “Kai” I hope you don’t mind!
> 
> also very irrelevant but i sorta kinda had so say: I left a review for What We Find on Twitter once and you found it, and shortly after Kaisoommer revealed that you were my assignment, so can you imagine how freaked i was lol
> 
> enjoooy

To be frank, Kyungsoo didn’t have any idea what the fuck he was doing.

“Yeah, well,” Kai grins at him from across the table. “I’ll be doing you in a while if you don’t keep up.”

They’re sitting crossed-legged in the middle of Kyungsoo’s dorm room, coffee table in between them, a deck of cards spread out. There are bottles of alcohol littered around the room, and if Kyungsoo was sure about one thing, it was that they were both absolutely, positively wasted.

And, they were playing a game of strip poker.

“Ha! I win this one again,” Kai cheers, setting down his turn. Kyungsoo groans and tugs off his sweatpants, throwing it at the other boy’s face in retaliation. He only had his boxers on now.

“It’s fucking cold,” Kyungsoo groaned.

Kai is still fully dressed.

“I hope you like clothed sex.” he sings.

Kyungsoo scoffs, drawing another card. “I hope you brought a condom.”

Kyungsoo’s twenty-one and young and screwing around and getting drunk with Kai probably shouldn’t be what he’s doing with his life, but it makes Kyungsoo feel a high he never thought possible, and he thinks that for now he’ll be content with that.

 

…..

 

Nobody knows the real reason as to why Kim Kai is dating Do Kyungsoo.

There were stories around the campus, sure. Drunken one-night-stand turned serious, a bet gone wrong, Kyungsoo pays him, etc. Stories completely absurd and far-out, but hilarious all the same. Kyungsoo’s favorite was that he had offered his soul to Satan in exchange for Kai.

But the real story as to how they really started going out was pretty vanilla. He had met Kai at a party during his second year as a pre-med student, the latter being a freshman in architecture, and they had talked, danced, gotten drunk, and jacked each other off in Yifan’s bedroom. It was a really boring how-we-met tale. 

(They both agree that the Satan Worshipper version of the story was much better, so they let people talk.)

In all honesty, though. Kyungsoo is pretty smitten with Kim Kai.

He himself wasn’t that much of an interesting person, he admits, so he’s never really met anyone fascinating enough to ask out. There are a few girls and a guy, but that’s pretty much it. (Messing around with Baekhyun back in highschool doesn’t count).

So to say, before Kai, he hadn’t really been much of a relationship guy. But once they started hooking up, that all changed.

Kyungsoo liked him. _A lot_.

Kim Kai, with his mischievous smirks and flirty winks. Kim Kai, and his fluid movements, Kim Kai and his body just _oozing_ with sex appeal. Kim Kai, all his, no one else’s.

“Oh my god, you really had to leave a shit ton of them here, did you?”

Kyungsoo watches from across their breakfast as Kai fusses with all the hickeys littering his collarbone and neck. They all peek out from the collar of his shirt, and although Kai’s never really minded before, he keeps consciously pulling at his clothes to cover them.

Kyungsoo hums in content as he brings his cup of coffee up to his lips. “It’s not like the whole campus doesn’t know we’re fucking.”

“Yeah, but when they see this they’ll think that _you’re_ fucking me.” Kai pointedly scoffs. He pulls on a jacket, and it covers majority of the little love bites Kyungsoo left, but Kyungsoo can still see an especially purple one peeking out, and he grins smugly at that. Kai doesn’t notice and keeps talking. “What’s the point of making you scream at night when everyone thinks it’s _you_ pounding into _my_ ass?”

“Then run around the quad and let everyone know about it, you big baby. God.”

Kai gives him that grin of his; the grin that always, always means trouble. He leans in close and whispers, “How ‘bout I do you in the middle of the quad instead? That should probably shut everyone up, huh?”

Kyungsoo swats his face away. “I’m eating. You’re disgusting.”

“Yah. Don’t act like you haven’t been thinking about it.”

“I haven’t. God knows where you get your crazy ideas from.”

The sound of utensils clicking fills in the silence. “When’s your next free period?”

“I don’t have one today. Baekhyun’s asking me to help out with the Student Union paperwork.”

“Again? Damn. Byun really needs to get his life together.”

There should be a limit, probably, of how much Kai gets to insult his friends, but Kyungsoo finds that he doesn’t seem to mind. Baekhyun was an idiot, after all. That goes without saying.

They take breakfast in between quiet and familiar musings, dotted with the occasional flirty and smart remarks. Kai steals food off Kyungsoo’s plate, Kyungsoo does the same and steals his drink. It’s almost sickeningly domestic, if it wasn’t for the fact that Kyungsoo had to keep swatting Kai’s toes away from his dick from under the table. He was really insatiable.

Kai finishes his breakfast first. “I’ll see you soon, darling,” he stands up, and blows a kiss to Kyungsoo as he exits the diner. Kyungsoo sees several patrons’ eyes follow his boyfriend out of the door, and he finds that he doesn’t mind at all, because really. He knows that the extra sashay of that ass was all meant for him.

 

…..

 

 “Is it that asshole you’re dating again?” Baekhyun says out of the blue when Kyungsoo’s phone rings up a text from Kai halfway through their work. They’re in the Student Union’s stuffy office, going through folders and boxes in an effort to sort out whatever Baekhyun should’ve been finished sorting weeks ago.

Kyungsoo ignores him, just gives a few taps to open Kai’s message. It’s a selfie of him with the quad in the background, his face winking and playful.

_wish u were here ;)_

Kyungsoo suppresses a smile. He finds it really funny how a walking sex god like Kai can sometimes turn into the biggest dork, even though he has no idea he’s doing it.

He’s just about to reply when Baekhyun snatches the phone out of his hands. Kyungsoo automatically lunges forward to try and retrieve it. “Yah! Baekhyun, you dick, give it back!”

“Not until we finish work!” Baekhyun takes a glance at the screen and grimaces. “Ugh, save the innuendo for later. Jesus, I swear to god, you two go at it like rabbits.”

Kyungsoo was too annoyed to even bother embarrassment. He angrily takes his phone and shoves it into his pocket. He returns to filing without another word.

Baekhyun sighs. “Aw, come on, Soo. It’s the truth. I don’t even know what you really see in that guy,”

“Well, for one, he’s not always such an obtuse pain in the ass,” Kyungsoo scoffed.

“Wha—hey, you got that from him, didn’t you? Goddamit!  He called me that once too! He’s a bad influence on you, Kyungsoo!”

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. Still, Baekhyun actually had a point. Kai was a straight-up asshole to his friends. And it wasn’t lost on Kyungsoo that none of his friends actually liked Kai, either. Sure, Yixing always made it a point to be polite around him, and Jongdae played deaf to the rude and inappropriate comments, but Kyungsoo knew that if the need arose, they’d throw Kai overboard to the sharks in a heartbeat.

“You’re not exactly playing nice with him, either.” Kyungsoo retorts. “The burn your coffee left on him took weeks to heal, you know.”

“That was an accident!”

Kyungsoo turns to look at his best friend earnestly. “Look, I know you guys can’t stand him, but it’s not like I’m asking that you to become friends and braid each other’s hair or something. Just…don’t bully him, alright? You can get pretty rough sometimes.”

Baekhyun pouts, muttered something about Kai being the one bullying them, but Kyungsoo ignores it and prods for any signs of agreement.  Baekhyun grumbles out a forced, yeah, and Kyungsoo deems that worthy enough to return to work.

Kyungsoo helps sorts through paperwork by reading the files and summarizing them to Baekhyun. Baekhyun bounces student org event ideas off him. They tidy up the office too, after that. Kyungsoo pushes open the curtains and breathes a sigh of relief when a sharp, cold breeze whips into the room. It’s cold, but it refreshes the room and his mind.

They finish just after dinner. Baekhyun, treats him to fried chicken as compensation, and buys hot milk tea just because. He drags Kyungsoo across town, even though it’s too cold for a walk, taking him to the flea market and thrift stores, and for once in what’s been quite a while, Kyungsoo enjoys himself. It feels like high school over again: just Baekhyun beside him, chattering about the most trivial of things, walking around aimlessly around the city, Kyungsoo threatening to push his best friend unto the oncoming traffic if ever his mouth got too loud.

They walk around the block of their university for a few times, and by the end of the hour they circle back to their dorm rooms. By the gates Kyungsoo sees Kai waiting with his palms by his mouth, his blonde hair a stark contrast against the piles of white snow around him.

“Sure took your time, I see,” Kai greets them with a thin smile. He keeps breathing hot puffs of air against his palms. 

“Well, maybe if you stop monopolizing my best friend’s schedules, then maybe I wouldn’t have had to,” Baekhyun chirps. The comment is meant to be cut, but he masks it with the sweet sarcasm that was 100% Baekhyun.  Kyungsoo rolls his eyes.

Kai notices this—Kyungsoo can see it in the way he smirks at Baekhyun, like he’s accepting his challenge—but with a wave of his hand he dismisses it, instead stepping forward to wrap a hand around Kyungsoo’s waist to pull him over to his side.

“Come on, Soo.” He says, tugging on Kyungsoo’s belt loops. “Crash over my place tonight—”

“Blarg,” Baekhyun fake-barfs into his fist.

“—then maybe we can catch up on all the hours we weren’t together,”

Kai’s got that no-good smirk back on his face. Kyungsoo’s twenty-one, but suddenly he feels like a sixteen-year old highschool boy with too much hormones again.

He lets Kai drag him over to the dorms, mouthing an apology to Baekhyun on the way. His best friend looks very disgusted and a little betrayed, but he waves his hand and proceeds to walk his own way to his dorm. Kyungsoo mentally notes that he should probably apologize later—

\--but his train of thought is cut off when Kai closes the door behind them, and suddenly it’s Kyungsoo’s lips against his.

Baekhyun can wait.

 

 

…..

 

 

Kyungsoo wonders if it’s the sex that makes him stay.

Kai fucks the same way he dances:  each move is powerful and precise. He’s a total show-off, an eager pleaser, but there’s a contrast to his liquid movements on stage and the rough thrusts he pulls off in bed, and that’s what makes Kyungsoo’s head spin every single night. It doesn’t help either that the sounds Kai makes during sex is nothing short of animalistic.

Kyungsoo’s not one to just sit back and enjoy the show, he likes pushing just as much as he likes being pushed, but Kai just looks so goddamn beautiful with the way he moves his body in liquid-like rolls of his hips that Kyungsoo can’t do anything but lie still and let Kai’s rough hands pin him down the sheets.

“You tired already?” Kai grins when Kyungsoo lets out a shaky breath and arches his head back, exposing the soft skin on his neck. “Baekhyun didn’t wear you out too much, did he?”

“Fuck—is this your idea of dirty talk? ‘Cuz talking about Baekhyun while having sex is a _great_ fucking way to ruin the mood, you dick.”

Kai laughs. It’s a grumble that’s rooted deep from his throat, and the sound sends shivers down Kyungsoo’s spine. The younger boy shifts on his knees, cock burying deeper into Kyungsoo’s ass as he grabs Kyungsoo by the ankles and practically bends his body in half.

“You know, there’s this bathroom in the main building that overlooks the quad,” Kai sighs, trading in his jackrabbit thrusts earlier with long, slower thrusts.

“Yeah, I know, I took a shit there once,” Kyungsoo whines and tries to kick his ankles free, but Kai’s got a vice grip on it as he spreads Kyungsoo’s legs open to fuck him better.

“I skipped, like, thirty minutes of Mr. Lee’s class to jack off there,” Kai laughs again. “Shit, Kyungsoo, I bet you look really hot spread out on the quad statue.”

Kyungsoo can imagine the scenario: Kai, one leg propped up the toilet seat, cock in his fist, leisurely looking over the quadrangle and thinking about him. _Him._ Kyungsoo thought it to be sleazy at first, but _shit._ He’s learned long, long ago that no act is dodgy as long as it’s got Kim Kai’s face plastered all over it.

“I mean, think about it, Soo.” Kai takes his dick into his hands, stroking him in time with his thrusts, and Kyungsoo bites back a moan behind his hand. “You. Me. Fucking against that gold statue,” a rasp laugh. “Nobody would see us if we went at it. Everybody’s asleep. But you wouldn’t mind, would you? You said it yourself—it’s not like the whole school doesn’t know we’re fucking. Might as well give them a show, eh? Shit, look at how hard you’re getting. You’re really up for it, aren’t you?

 _Yes. Fuck yes._ He can’t find himself to say it, not even with Kai’s gentle strokes on his dick. He’s being coaxed out. Like an animal. He doesn’t like it.

“I’m all for freezing my dick off on that statue out there,” Kyungsoo says instead.

Kai laughs again— _why the fuck does he always laugh during sex?—_ and his hands abandon Kyungsoo’s thighs and dick to instead grabs his wrists and pins them up above his head. With nothing to fist in between the pounding, Kyungsoo wraps his legs around Kai’s waist for dear life as the tanned male thrusts upward with a renewed vigor.

“I bet you’d be so tight at the thought of doing it in public,” Kai whispers into his ear. “You act like such a prude, but you like the way people look at us and think of us fucking, don’t you, Soo?”

Kyungsoo merely whimpers in response. He leans forward for a kiss, but Kai pushes his mouth away with his hand, too busy watching his dick plunge in and out of Kyungsoo’s hole.

“S-Shit, you always take me so, _so_ well.”

“Do you always have to talk so much?” Kyungsoo growls, now slightly pissed. “Shut up and just screw me properly already, you perv.”

The smirk Kai gives him is so condensing. Kyungsoo’s can feel his cock twitch.

He leans over again for another kiss, but this time Kai intercepts him and shoves three fingers into his mouth. Kyungsoo moans, feeling the fingers scrape against the back of his throat,

A few thrusts later and Kyungsoo’s coming into Kai’s hand, Kai himself shortly following after. Kyungsoo lays in the afterglow of their orgasms for a while, feeling Kai's cock softening in him.

“I heard that spring’s gonna come early this year,” Kai comments out of nowhere.

Kyungsoo smacks him on the head and rolls out of bed.

 

…….

 

 

Kyungsoo knew that they were going to break up, sooner or later. It’s not like he expected a happily ever after with Kai (who believes in that shit nowadays, anyway?), but when they break up, Kyungsoo imagined it ending with a bang. Something as grand and dramatic as Kim Kai himself. One big fight—over something stupid, as always, but this time the whole dorm’s going to hear them screaming louder than they do when they have sex. Neither of them is sentimental, so no one’s going to cry, but one of them will probably storm out, and that’ll be the end of that. Kyungsoo will then file Kim Kai into the back of his head, and will probably be sad about it for a few weeks as an excuse to skip classes and drink and drink and drink and drink.

What he did not expect, though, was for him to walk into a party to see Kai on another man’s lap, grinding down on the bulge visible even from a distance. Taemin—that’s the name of the dude, Kyugnsoo remembers. Taemin, the dude who came from the same hometown as Kai. Taemin, Kai’s best friend.

Taemin, who apparently has been fucking his boyfriend.

Kyungsoo was shocked, at first (how does one get over walking in on his boyfriend giving a lapdance to another guy, anyway?), but he knew that the best thing to do at that moment was to leave, so he did. He pretended he didn’t see anything, and promptly turned around and headed into town. He waited half an hour before texting: _where are you??_

It took Kai another half hour to reply, _we need to talk._

_About??_

At 2 am in the morning, Kai finally texted back. _Hey, I’m sorry, it’s not working for me anymore. Just happened. I think we should start seeing other people. Sorry._

If Kyungsoo took a shot every time he stared at the text, he probably would’ve died of alcohol poisoning by now.

_Hey, I’m sorry, it’s not working for me anymore. Just happened. I think we should start seeing other people. Sorry._

_Hey, I’m sorry, it’s not working for me anymore. Just happened. I think we should start seeing other people. Sorry._

_Hey, I’m sorry, it’s not working for me anymore. Just happened. I think we –_

A hand snatches his phone away from his hands, and this time, Kyungsoo doesn’t mind. He groans, and slumps against the table plagued with several bottles of soju and shot glasses. He’s faintly aware of Baekhyun and Chanyeol arguing across him, but he doesn’t mind. He doesn’t mind. He should probably call for another round. He doesn’t have cash, but Chanyeol’s with them, and Chanyeol’s loaded as fuck. Oh, wait. He has a reporting first thing in the morning. Should he head home, then? But, ah, it’s been so long since he’s last seen Chanyeol, and he actually really needs another shot now, Kai fucking sucks, what a shitty, shitty way to break up—

“Hey, look at him, heartbroken and all over the place.” Baekhyun’s voice cuts into his subconciousness. “The uni’s going to crack down on him if he goes back to the dorms in this state. Let’s crash at your condo, Chanyeol.”

“Why the fuck do you have to crash, too? I’ll agree if it’s only Kyungsoo, but if you’re staying over too, then I’ll have to think about it.”

“What? _Why?”_

“My place isn’t a freaking penthouse, Baek. I’ve only got one room, and the bed’s only big enough for Kyungsoo and me.”

Kyungsoo hears Baekhyun snort. “Then sleep on the couch. I’ll stay with Soo and keep an eye on him so he doesn’t die of choking on his own snot.”

“No way. You keep starfishing when you sleep, you’ll push Soo right off. And I think the management still has that tape that proves that you really _did,_ in fact, Naruto-run into a glass door and broke it. How did that court battle go, by the way?”

“Screw it. That is totally unnecessary information, considering that our best friend is fucking heartbroken right now. Come on, Chanyeol…”

Kyungsoo lifts his head up, and suddenly Baekhyun and Chanyeol stop arguing to stare at him. He stares back.

“I’m not heartbroken,” he states, matter-of-factly.

If it wasn’t clear that they were highschool friends back then, then it is now, with the way his two best friends roll their eyes at the same time.

“See? He’s wasted as shit.”

“I’m not heartbroken,” Kyungsoo repeats, moving to slap Baekhyun, but he ends up pawing his best friend’s cheek instead.

“Oh shit, he’s getting touchy. Come on, Chanyeol! Let’s bounce!”

“Kai fucking sucks,” Kyungsoo continues.. “He probably copy and pasted that text from the internet. Ha. I hope he bounces off Taemin’s dick and breaks a leg.”

“For the last fucking time, I’m only letting Kyungsoo stay over! Not you!!”

 

…..

 

“And that’s the drunkest you’ve been?”

Kyungsoo nods, pouring a little more soju into his sunbae’s glass. Junmyeon’s got his eyebrows furrowed in that funny way of his, but despite that he’s staring right at Kyungsoo, looking as if he’s waiting for a trace of humor to grace the other’s features.

Kyungsoo simply remains pokerfaced, and takes a shot. “Ahh. Yeah. That’s pretty much it.”

“What? That’s boring. With the way the story was heading, I was half-expecting some kind of wild story about how you suddenly found yourself in a threesome with two of your best friends since highschool.”

Kyungsoo’s shocked at how his prim and polite superior could talk like that so casually, but he pretends not to choke and keeps talking.

“I was out cold and had a splitting headache when I woke up. Even if I was in the mood to go at it with Baekhyun and Chanyeol, I doubt I would’ve been anything useful. They’d probably ditch me and suck face on their own anyway.”

“God,” Jongdae winces when he takes a shot. “Can we not talk about Baekhyun and Chanyeol that way? It’s grossing me out.”

“Hey, don’t act like you’ve never noticed the sexual tension between the two of them.” Kyungsoo takes a shot. “Haven’t you seen Chanyeol staring? Boy’s whipped as fuck.”

Jongdae just grimaces and groans, holding out his shot glass so Kyungsoo can pour him another glass. “That boyfriend of yours sure is running late, Junmyeon-hyung.”  he grumbles.

They’re in a bar, celebrating probably what seemed to be Junmyeon’s hundredth surgery, and the first successful one with Jongdae and Kyungsoo by his side. Kyungsoo initially thought it was a ruse just so Junmyeon had an excuse to invite the two of them out to drink (he’d been stressed for the past few days and had actually made a few mistakes during the surgery itself), and his theory was proven right the moment his boss rang up his charming young lawyer boyfriend and invited him to meet them at the nearest bistro.

Junmyeon checks his phone. Kyungsoo thinks it’s cute, how he’s so flustered and pissed. He and Jongdae have been pretending for the past hour that they haven’t been noticing his sudden cranky and impatient behavior. Oh, and talkativeness. Junmyeon is a talker when he’s sober, but he’s a die-hard chatterbox even when he’s only slightly tipsy. It’s amusing to watch, and Kyungsoo files everything into the back of his brain for later blackmail material.

He just wishes that he’s not the one being prodded for stories tonight.

“He had to meet a client across town, just wait.” Junmyeon says. “Kyungsoo, tell us about something from highschool.”

“My school was boring,” Kyungsoo tries to dismiss, but Junmyeon _tsk_ s and waves his shot glass in the air. “Nonsense, nonsense. No such thing as a boring school. So? Do you have a story?”

Jongdae raises his hand. “I have a story.”

“If it’s another one about that senior you mistook for a girl, then I don’t want to hear it, Jongdae.”

They drink for a few more rounds, but Kyungsoo doesn’t take that many shots, just fills in his companion’s glasses when they prompt him to, and listens to their stories, laughing at each punchline (Junmyeon’s were notably horrible, but Kyungsoo still laughs for the sake of his job).  He feels a tickle in his bladder by the time Jongdae finishes recounting  his latest shenanigans, and he excuses himself to the bathroom.

Immediately taking his spot at the table is a taller man, dark-haired and lanky and sheepishly giving Junmyeon an apologetic smile. “Hi,” he greets Jongdae with a handshake, and dives to give a chaste kiss to Junmyeon, the older pouting the entire time. “Sorry, were you two waiting for long?”

“Long enough to make me start seeing two of you,” Junmyeon frowns at the man. “Next round’s on you, Sehun.”

“As long as I’m driving home. You look like a car wreck waiting to happen.”

“Is this your boyfriend?” Jongdae suddenly interjects.

“Fiancé, actually.” The man named Sehun corrects. “Wow, and here I thought you’ve already waved that ring of yours in front of everyone’s face at the hospital.”

“I’m getting there, don’t worry.”  Junmyeon raises his hand, and Jongdae coos at the diamond ring resting on his finger.  As Jongdae prods his senior about the proposal, Sehun, being younger than the two doctors, starts pouring more soju into their glasses. “Oh, by the way, I invited Jongin to drink with us, I hope you don’t mind.”

Junmyeon shrugs. Then he turns his head towards the bathrooms. “Huh. Kyungsoo sure is taking his time.”

 

 

_Hey, I’m sorry, it’s not working for me anymore. Just happened. I think we should start seeing other people. Sorry._

God. Kyungsoo’s forgotten how annoying those words sound bouncing around in his head.

He splashes his face with cold water, hoping to wash away the fatigue evident from juggling work and his Master’s course. Has it really been seven years since they broke up? Seems like forever ago when he walked in on Kai and Taemin.

(Kyungsoo scoffs out a laugh at that. Damn. He could still remember that moment as if it were yesterday.)

As he was patting his face dry with a paper towel, he suddenly hears a weak heaving sound coming from one of the sounds. It’s soft first, as if the proprietor’s afraid of being heard, but then it comes again, and Kyungsoo’s not sure if it’s even human.

There’s a pained groan. _Definitely_ human.

“Hello?” Kyungsoo checks each stall until he finds a pair of legs sprawled all over the floor. “Hey? Um. Are you okay in there?”

There’s no answer. Just another groan, and a faint bumping sound.

Kyungsoo finds the stall door unlocked and pushes it open. Inside the cramped space, there’s a lanky man hunched over the toilet bowl, his legs half-bent and half-kneeling awkwardly as he adjusts to make room for himself. His head’s leaning against the toilet (that definitely has to be disgusting), and even from the entrance Kyungsoo can see what was left of the man’s lunch upset at the bottom of the toilet.

Kyungsoo suddenly realizes that he has no idea what the fuck he should do.

He could call Jongdae and Junmyeon for help, but then again, who were the three of them to help?

“Do you need help?” _Obviously, dickhead._ “Do you need me to call your friends?”

The man lets out a really horrible animal noise. Kyungsoo hears heaving and the unloading of something unpleasant from his mouth.

“Okay, uh…” he leans down, barely kneeling on the floor (shit, it really _is_ disgusting down here). He doesn’t know where he gets the urge, but he reaches out and pats the man’s back. Small, friendly pats at first, but then his retches get more violent, and Kyungsoo finds himself holding his nose while rubbing circles along the other’s back.

He vaguely remembers himself in a similar position, years ago, with Baekhyun. He remembers that it was especially helpful that Baekhyun had been there to hold his hair back, when he had long floppy bangs brushing over his eyes. He supposes that he should probably return the favor to the guy with him right now, at least.

“Hey,” he says softly. “Come here for a sec.”

This guy’s bangs were long and surprisingly _soft._ Kyungsoo doesn’t mind leaning over and brushing them back when the guy lets out another disgusting dump of shit unto the toilet. He continues rubbing the dude’s back, half wondering how he looks. It’s hard to tell how fucked his face is from behind.

Finally, after a few more retches, Kyungsoo thinks he can make out something coherent. “…thank you,” the guy murmurs, voice sounding raw from all vomiting. “Sorry for the bother. Haha.” The last part comes out as a few scratchy hacks.

“No problem,” Kyungsoo pats the guy’s back for the last time and stands up. He takes a few wads of tissue from the roll beside him and hands it over to the dude. He stands up. “Can you stand up?”

“Yeah,” The guy awkwardly tightens his grip on the rim of the bowl and pushes himself off. His head is hung low, probably in embarrassment, so Kyungsoo can’t really see his face. The guy sways and Kyungsoo quickly grabs a bicep to balance him.

“Hunnnnggghhhh not okay,” Suddenly there’s a hand on Kyungsoo’s own arm, and he feels a sudden weight push back against the stall. The dude starts slumping, so Kyungsoo grabs him by under the elbows, but he’s heavy and keeps collapsing and Kyungsoo has to bend his knees to catch his head. He stops there, thankfully, but suddenly they’re in this compromising, uncomfortable position where it looks like he’s giving head to Kyungsoo.

 _This is what I get for being a good Samaritan?_  Kyungsoo tries to heave the dude up, but he doesn’t budge. _Note to self: stick to your usual douche bag ways._

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, Kyungsoo hears the bathroom door swing open. He quickly kicks their stall’s door close, but as soon as it bangs against the wall, Kyungsoo hears footsteps approach them, and Jongdae’s voice drifting to them as the stall opens, “Hey, Soo, what’s taking you so long—” he chokes at the sight in front of him.

“This isn’t what it looks like,” Kyungoo quickly blurts out. The guy beneath isn’t helping—he fucking _moans,_ and _shit,_ Kyungsoo feels that right up his thigh.

Jongdae, always quick to recover, is grinning now from ear to ear. A breathless laugh escapes his mouth. “Shit, is this what you’ve been busy with these past few moments? Oh boy, wait till Junmyeon sees this,”

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Kyungsoo breathes.

Jongdae pulls out his phone, and the shutter of a camera goes off. “Yah! Junmyeon!”

“Jongdae!”

“Our baby Soo finally getting laid after seven long years of lonliness,” Jongdae sings.

“Kim Jongdae, I swear to god I will _kill_ you in your sleep.”

“Not before this gets to Jun. He’s been bugging us about stupid stories, right? Well, this one here’s going to shut him up for the next few—wait, is that _Kai?!_ ”

 “What’re you—” Kyungsoo frowns and looks down. At that moment, the guy looks up, and Kyungsoo finally sees past messy bangs to see the face that’s been haunting every single boner he’s had since he graduated.

_This party sucks. Your name’s Kyungsoo? Well, Kyungsoo, nice to meet you. I’m Kai. How ‘bout we get out of here? I heard Yifan’s parents have silk sheets._

_Let them talk. I think it’s pretty flattering that people think I’m dating a guy who’s got the balls to sell his soul to the devil._

_Shit, let’s be like this for a long time, yeah? I can’t imagine fucking anyone else but you._

_Oh my god, you really had to leave a shit ton of them here, did you?_

_Wish you were here ;)_

_We need to talk._

_Hey, I’m sorry, it’s not working for me anymore. Just happened. I think we should—_

“HOLY SHIT,”

Kyungsoo’s hands immediately fly to push the guy—Kai, _KIM FUCKING KAI—_ off his lap. Kai lands on the ground outside the stall face-first, and he’s conscious enough to let out a groan. Jongdae’s looking down at him like he doesn’t know what he should do with him, either.

“Why the fuck is he here?” Kyungsoo shouts.

“How the fuck am I supposed to know?!” Jongdae screams back. “Why the fuck were you in the stall with him in the first place?”

Kyungsoo’s head is spinning. Holy shit, he’s been—he’s been helping _Kai._ He’s been _touching_ Kai. He’s been rubbing _Kai’s_ back and he’s been holding back _Kai’s_ bangs and—shit, shit, shit—the way he looked up at him through sleepy eyes and messy bangs just a while ago reminded Kyungsoo so much of all the times Kai’s gone down on him and oh oh oh shit now is _not_ the right time to be popping a boner—

The guy—Kai, _KAI!!—_ is hacking, and he’s throwing up on the floor now. And there’s _blood._ Kyungsoo blinks—his first instinct is to help him, of course, he’s not that heartless. But…he’s not sure if he wants to touch him again. Something’s holding him back.

The bathroom door slams open again, and this time Junmyeon barges in, a taller and younger man tailing behind him. “What’s going on?” Junmyeon surveys the situation, but not long after is he being pushed to the side by the tall dude behind him.

“Damn,” the man kneels beside Kai and gently tries to slap his cheeks. “Jongin? Jongin are you alright? What the fuck’s up with you man, seriously.”

 _Jongin?_ Was that a nickname? A pet name? A…kink?

“His nose’s bleeding,” the man states, looking up at Junmyeon. “And he’s throwing up god knows what. Call an ambulance!”

“On it,” Jongdae shakily presses buttons on his phone.

“No, wait, get him to my car,” Junmyeon pulls out his keys and throws it over to Kyungsoo, who barely catches it. “Get us there, Kyungsoo. You’re sober and you drive stick better than Sehun does.”

The guy named Sehun turns to him and gives and acknowledging nod, before throwing Kai’s arms over his shoulder and effortlessly hoisting up the unconscious man. He quickly follows Junmyeon out of the restroom. Jongdae and Kyungsoo share a look, and Jongdae mouths a quick, _what the fuck,_ before tailing behind the former two.

Kyungsoo quickly scrambles out of the stall, somehow managing to straighten out his polo before scuttling out of the bar.

 

…..

 

 

“Food poisoning,” Junmyeon relays the information provided to him by another doctor. “And a broken wrist and nose from hitting the floor, apparently.”

The three men tensely sitting on the bench let out a collective sigh. Kyungsoo especially.

“Must be the chicken skin he bought off the street before we left the courtroom,” Sehun—Junmyeon’s apparent _fiancé_ , why the fuck doesn’t Kyungsoo know that—says. “Knew that shit looked suspicious.”

They’re ironically back at the hospital, not as doctor and interns but as friends accompanying a friend who won’t stop chucking up his dinner. (Kai threw up on Junymeon’s leather upholstery once and stuck his head out of the window to vomit twice).

“What the heck was going on back there?” Junmyeon’s voice suddenly turns sharp, the tone familiar to the one he reserves for telling interns like Kyungsoo and Jongdae off when they do something stupid. And this—Kyungsoo muses—this entire night _definitely_ was something worth cringing about. “I heard Jongdae call me. Did you have anything to do with this?”

“I caught the dude trying to give head to Kyungsoo.” Jongdae deadpans.

“Wha—”

“I was _trying—”_ Kyungsoo slaps Jongdae’s thigh harshly, “—to help. I found him throwing up his guts into the toilet and assisted him in cleaning up. He wasn’t trying to blow me. I swear.”

Junmyeon frowns at his two interns, scrutinizing Jongdae’s pokerface and Kyungsoo’s, well, _pensive_ one. He then looks over to Sehun, who just shrugs and says, “Hey, just because he’s my best friend doesn’t mean I know whether or not he’s in some mood for some nut or not.”

Kyungsoo hears Jongdae chuckle, and he socks him in the gut with his elbow.

A nurse comes out of the room, and she nods at all four men lounging on the benches. Immediately, Sehun stands up, planting a quick kiss on Junmyeon’s cheek. “Let me check on him. I’ll be right back.” He says before entering the room.

“Okay,” Junmyeon turns the interns, crossing his arms now. He means business. “Can someone tell me what’s _really_ happening.”

There’s a pregnant silence for a moment. Kyungsoo sees Jongdae fidgeting, and when he meets his gaze, the other’s eyes are blown wide open.

“THAT GUY WAS—” Jongdae starts.

“JONGDAE NO,” Kyungsoo rushes forward to cover his mouth.

“—KYUNGSOO’S EX IN COLLEGE!”

Jongdae leaps out of his spot at the bench and scrambles away from Kyungsoo a few feet. Kyungsoo sees Junmyeon’s face scrunch up in confusion at first, before his eyes flash with recognition.

“Wait, no way, _that guy?”_ Junmyeon’s head turns to the hospital room where Kai was staying. “That guy’s _Kai?_ The dude who almost got you into a threesome with Chanyeol and Baekhyun?”

“Ew, hyung, let that go,” Jongdae gags.

Kyungsoo feels like crawling into a hole and dying. “Yeah. That’s him.”

“Damn! Small world!” Junmyeon laughs. “Wait—is that why you were taking so long in the bathroom? Because you were… _with him?”_

“That’s what I thought!” Jongdae half-shouts. Kyungsoo winces when it bounces down the empty hospital hallway.

Junmyeon leans down, planting his hands on either side of Kyungsoo’s knees, and looks at his intern at eye level. “Look, Kyungsoo. It’s not healthy to keep coming back to the people who’ve hurt us in the past—”

“Aish, stop it, hyung,” Kyungsoo swipes at Junmyeon’s hands and moves away, causing Junmyeon to fall forward and smack his chin against the bench. “Look, I didn’t know it was him, okay? I really thought I was just helping a random stranger out in the bathroom. I had no idea it was Kai until Jongdae pointed it out.”

Junmyeon’s face suddenly turns pensive. “You didn’t beat him up, did you?”

“What? No, wait, I didn’t—”

“I hope you didn’t do anything reckless. I can have Sehun defend you, but the first rule to being a doctor is to do no harm—”

“Hyung, will you please shut up for one second?” Kyungsoo barks.

This effectively shuts Junmyeon up. Kyungsoo clicks his tongue and rubs the sides of his temple. He’s still sober, but he’s had enough alcohol to make his head hurt a bit, and all this talking’s not helping.

“I wouldn’t have beaten him up, even if I was angry and had the chance,” Kyungsoo finally says slowly. “I mean, sure, he’s an asshole and all, but I wouldn’t go _that_ far. I don’t hate him that much.”

Silence. Kyungsoo looks up to see Junmyeon and Jongdae eyeing each other.

“Yep, he’s bitter, alright.” Junmyeon nods solemnly.

“Still not over the break-up, Soo?” Jongdae cocks his head to the side.

“We’re here to pat your head if you need us to.”

“Do you want some ice cream?”

Kyungsoo sighs in disbelief. “…were you two even listening to anything I just said?”

 

……

 

Minutes later, Sehun comes out of the room and motions for them to come over. “You should see him,” he says. To Kyungsoo, specifically.

Kyungsoo flinches. Shit, a lawsuit is the last thing he needs right now.

“Calm down, he won’t be charging anything.” Sehun reassures. “He just wants to talk.”

Kyungsoo feels a pair of hands massage his shoulders. “Alright Kyungsoo, remember, count to ten whenever you think of throwing a punch.” Jongdae thumps him encouragingly on the back. Junymyeon gives him a thumbs-up.

Kyungsoo trudges over to the room, trying not to gag.

It’s weird to see the hospital room in this perspective, Kyungsoo muses. It’s one thing to enter as an intern—the room’s a workplace like that, a completely professional place with no strings attached and no feelings considered.

Entering as a visitor to your ex, however, just makes Kyungsoo’s gut churn.

Kai looks exactly like one of those TV drama heroes, tucked in with a blanket, wearing a hospital gown. He’s got a bandage right across his face where his nose is, but instead of looking ugly, he actually looks pretty nice like that, a little ruffled and mussed, like a rushed work of art—

“Hi,” Kai greets politely. And it’s at that moment Kyungsoo’s instinct tells him that something is very, _very_ off.

“Hey,” Kyungsoo closes the door behind, him, taking his time to listen to the _click_ of the knob and taking a glimpse over to the three other men waiting outside. He’s ready to sprint anytime.

“Would it be weird to ask you to take a seat?” Kai motions to the stool beside his bed with his free hand. “I think it would be, considering that you work here but…ah, whatever.”

Kyungsoo approaches Kai’s bedside carefully, each step light and cautious, as if he’s navigating through a field of land mines. When he sits, he feels taut as a bow. Kai’s uneasy smile doesn’t help.

“So…” Kai clicks his tongue, looking up at the ceiling as he smiles awkwardly. “I should probably get this over with so you can all head home. You’re the one who helped me in the bathroom, right? Thanks for that. You’re a total gentleman, it’s cool. You’re cool. Sorry you had to see all that shit. Sehun told you about it, right? The whole chicken skin ordeal? I couldn’t help it. We just came out of a trial and suddenly he invites me to drink with his fiancé. I thought I shouldn’t drink on an empty stomach so I thought of buying street food. Bad decision—I knew the chicken tasted weird. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah, thank you. You were really great back there. I think I would’ve ended up worse if you weren’t there to help me. Haha. Don’t you think it’s funny, how I ended up in the bathroom before I could even start drinking? I—hey, um, are you okay? You still with me?”

Kyungsoo’s head is spinning. Something is terribly, _terribly_ off. Kai doesn’t talk like that. Kai doesn’t smile like that. Kai smiles like he could own the world, not like Kyungsoo’s the most amazing thing in the world. Kyungsoo’s not used to the look he’s seeing in Kai’s eyes right now—they’re supposed to dark and condensing, not soft and welcoming.

Kyungsoo pauses to look at the man in front of him in his entirety. It definitely _is_ Kai—his hair’s brown now rather than the bleached blonde it was in college, but it’s still the same gold-skinned, sharp-featured person Kyungsoo’s been so enamored with that he’s spent the last seven years still pining after him even after he’s sworn that Kim Kai was the worst thing that happened to him in his lifetime.

Well, in one lifetime, probably. With the soft look the other man’s giving him from across the hospital bed right now, all the pent-up feelings at the back of his mind suddenly come rushing back, and Kyungsoo finds that doesn’t mind making the same mistake twice.

“Whoa now—are you drunk?”

Kyungsoo quicky opens his eyes (which, in all honesty, he doesn’t remember closing). He’s inches away from Kai’s face now, and the other man’s eyes are blown wide in surprise. He looks so scandalized. He looks so _innocent._

Something’s eating away at Kyungsoo’s gut. This is definitely not the Kim Kai he knew back in college.

“S-Sorry,” Kyungsoo immediately scrambles back to his seat, but his mouth’s still hanging open, letting out shaky breaths he didn’t realize he was holding.

“Are you…okay?” Kai—Kai?—asks, looking incredulous.

“Yeah.”

There’s a really painful silence afterwards.

“What’s your name?” Kai asks. And Kyungsoo’s heart just drops.

“You don’t remember me?” he asks, turning to frown at the younger man across him. He doesn’t really expect a warm welcome after all the shit that’s went on, but really? _He doesn’t remember?_

“My name’s Kyungsoo,” Kyungsoo says. “We used to date back in college.”

“I—really? Wha—wait, sorry, I don’t think—”

“We met at Yifan’s party. We dated for a year. We broke up because you’ve been fucking your best friend since highschool, and had still been fucking him even while we dated.”

Kai looks really lost. “I don’t think—”

“We used to play a lot of strip poker,” Kyungsoo supplies. “You always cheated, but I let you win anyway.”

Kai’s face was still blank.

Kyungsoo takes in a deep breath.

“We also had sex in the middle of the university quad,” he adds quickly. “Once. At, like, 2 am. In spring. Because you’re an insatiable little shit.”

 _There—_ finally, realization dawns on Kai’s face. It’s comical, how his eyes widen and his mouth forms into an _oh,_ his eyebrows shooting up and almost disappearing into his hairline. He brings up a hand to his face, muttering what sounded to be like a _you idiot,_ and rubs his temples.

There’s an awkward silence after that.

“Look, uh, Jungsoo,”

“Kyungsoo,” Kyungsoo corrects sharply.

“Right. Kyungsoo…” he looks really apologetic. Kyungsoo wonders if he’s been too hard on him.

Kai reaches out and holds the hand Kyungsoo’s laying across the bed. “I’m really, really sorry. But I think you’ve mistook me for someone else.”

The blood in Kyungsoo’s veins freezes. “What?”

Kai(?) reaches over to the bedside drawer and takes out his wallet. “This is crazy. Second time this year.” he mumbles as he cards through the wallet’s contents. He then pulls out an ID.

“My name’s Kim Jongin,” the man who is definitely not Kai says, handing the ID to Kyungsoo. “I’m a lawyer at Kim-Oh Law Offices. I went to Seoul University for college. I have a brother, his name’s Kai, and I’m pretty sure he’s the asshole you’re looking for.”

He hands another thing to Kyungsoo. A picture. In it are two young boys, both highschool-aged, in identical uniforms with identical smiles.

And identical eyes.

And identical noses.

And identical mouths.

Kyungsoo stared at the two young Kais on the picture.

“This,” Kyungsoo finally manages for a few seconds. “Has got to be a joke, right?”

“I’m afraid it’s not.”

“This is low,” Kyungsoo growls, voice rising. “This is _so_ low, even for you, Kai—”

“Jongin?” Sehun’s head peeks through the door. “Is everything alright?”

“Can you say my name again, Sehun?” Not-Kai calls out after him.

Sehun frowns. “Kim Jongin? Is that what you want me to say?”

“Yeah, thanks buddy.”

Sehun closes the door, muttering something about delusions and nosebleeds.

“I know it’s hard to believe…” Kai—Jongin, _J-o-n-g-i-n_ —starts, but Kyungsoo cuts him off with a raised hand.

“Where is Kai now?”

“Probably flying all over the world right now. He’s a pilot.”

Right. Kai shifted to aerodynamics on his second year.

“Look, if it helps,” Jongin continues softly. “Just the other month I also bumped into an ex of his. Soojung, I think her name was. She went batshit crazy on me, man. I’m kind of getting tired of dealing with his mess.”

“I—why didn’t he tell me about you?”

“We generally don’t tell people about each other, and we try to be as far apart from each other as possible, but some of his friends know me. Taemin knows me. He probably didn’t think you were important enough to know.”

  _Ouch._ “That was unnecessary.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

The two of them let the silence glaze over as Kyungsoo tries to process the information. He’s not dreaming. He’s not lonely and probably just fantasizing about Kai. This is real. Jongin is real.

“I broke your nose and wrist after pushing you off thinking you were Kai,” Kyungsoo states blandly.

Jongin just nods solemnly.

“I almost fucking _kissed_ you,” Kyungsoo continues. “Thinking that you were Kai.”

“To be fair, I think trying to kiss an ex is already fucked up on its own.”

There’s a silence again, followed by a snort. It’s from Kyungsoo. The situation is just so _absurd_ that he can’t help it. The snort is followed by a scoff, and soon he’s laughing hysterically into his palms.

“Dude, are you okay?” Jongin asks. “I swear to god, if you go crazy on me, I will call Kai up and dump your ass on him. I’m tired of dealing with the aftermath of his shitty break ups.”

This just makes Kyungsoo laugh a little louder, Junmyeon and the others definitely have to be hearing him. Jongin breaks into a smile, and wow—despite the same face, there’s not one ounce of Kai-ness on Jongin’s demeanor.

There’s a knock on the door once again, and Junmyeon’s face pops in. “Sorry to break your fun, but visiting hours end in a few minutes. Just thought you wanted to know.” He immediately disappeared before Kyungsoo could even get a word in.

“Look, uh,” he pats awkwardly for his phone, not sure whether or not he should push through with what he’s going to do. “I don’t think I’m over the fact that my ex has a twin brother he’s never told me about. I mean, it shouldn’t be my business, I know. But I just—”

“Can I have your number?” Jongin saves him by asking the question. Kyungsoo smiles, thinks that the cheeky smile Jongin throws him is the prettiest he’s seen yet, and pulls out his phone from his pockets. “I think they’ll discharge me tomorrow afternoon after running a few tests. How about we go out and get some chicken after lunch?”

“You never learn, do you?”

Jongin grins up at him as he types his number into Kyungsoo’s phone. “It’s a family trait.”

 

…..

 

“He’s told me about you, you know,” Jongin says after they each devour their respective orders of chicken.

“Really,” Kyungsoo says in a monotone, trying to sound uninterested. Key word: _trying._

“Well, not really” Jongin smiles as if he sees through Kyungsoo’s devil-may-care act. “We don’t really talk much, but you know. He can’t help but gloat about his sexcapades.”

“Wow. It’s like we’re not even strangers.”

“I know right? I thought it was going to be really awkward at first, but I’m kinda surprised that it’s easier to talk to you this way. We don’t even have to introduce ourselves.”

They _did_ still introduce themselves, of course. Jongin is a lawyer working with Junmyeon’s fiancé in an independently-run law office. Jongin is twenty-seven, and his birthday is on January 14 (Kyungsoo already knows that, but still). He used to be a dancer too, like Kai, but unlike his brother, Jongin focuses more on the soft, mesmerizing flow of jazz and ballet rather than the steady beat of hip-hop and RnB.

Kyungsoo thinks he likes Jongin better than his brother. He’s polite. He calls Kyungsoo “hyung” and only cusses once in a while. He’s smaller and cuter than his brother. He looks younger and softer, too, more pliant and amicable when Kyungsoo talks to him. Jongin laughs at Kyungsoo’s jokes; he doesn’t have to resort to defensive sarcasm and witty retorts to keep Jongin interested. Jongin’s laugh is infectious and probably the best thing that’s graced Kyungsoo’s ears other than his brother’s moans.

And it’s so easy to dote on somebody so easy and warm. Kyungsoo insists on paying for the chicken they ordered, the bus they ride downtown, the ice cream they eat, the popcorn they order, and the movie they watch in a moment of impulse. Kyungsoo doesn’t think he’s had this much fun since, well…he can’t really remember. Thank god Junmyeon gave him a day off after last night’s events.

It’s dark by the time they exit the movie theater. In all honesty, Kyungsoo can’t even remember the plot of the film they watched—the only thing Kyungsoo recalls are the stories Jongin had been telling in the midst of CGI explosions and robots dominating the world.

Kyungsoo’s wonders if it’s unfair of him, to just instantly like Jongin just because he has his brother’s face. Just because it’s been seven years since he last had a steady relationship, and what a convenience it is to just run into a kinder, gentler version of the guy he was so madly attached to.

Kyungsoo decides that yeah, it is unfair. But seeing Jongin in the passenger seat smiling brightly at him, Kyungsoo finds that he has literally not one ounce of guilt for feeling this way.

“Thanks for today, hyung,” Jongin says when Kyungsoo pulls up the car in front of Kim-Oh law offices (Jongin insisted that he should check in on Sehun to make sure he didn’t burn the office to the ground).

“No problem,” Kyungsoo replies. “Get well soon.”

“Okay,” Jongin makes a move to open his door, but pauses and seems to be bracing himself for something. He slowly turns himself to Kyungsoo. “You know, when Kai told me about you, I imagined you to be cuter.”

Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Yeah. But I guess a lot can change in seven years. You’re really hot.”

 _Holy shit._ Kyungsoo is wrong about Jongin being completely different from his brother, because Jongin has the same shit-eating, flirty smile as Kai. The same smile that’s teasing and innocent and playful all the same.

It’s been a while since Kyungsoo has blushed this hard. He mumbles a shy thank you, and Jongin laughs—it’s the cute and pretty Jongin laugh, thank god, not the obnoxious Kai laugh.

“Call me sometime,” Jongin says as he finally exits the car. “I didn’t give you my number just for one date, you know.”

Kyungsoo’s mouth is completely dry, but as Jongin walks away into the offices, he manages to call out.

“Yah! Maybe when your wrist is finally good. We wouldn’t want to break it again!”

 

……

 

“So, the two of you _did_ end up fucking,”

Only Baekhyun is looking Kyungsoo in the eye. Chanyeol looks like he wants to die of alcohol poisoning.

“Why are we always drinking?” Baekhyun muses, although he does take a sip out of his own beer bottle. “It feels like every single significant conversation we had has been discussed in this very bar, with these very drinks. Can’t we have a proper conversation without the influence of alcohol?”

“We started drinking before we were even eighteen,” Kyungsoo retorts. “No thanks to you.”

“Old habits die hard, I guess.”

Chanyeol makes a noise. He’s clutching on to his beer bottle like it’s the most precious thing in the world right now.

“So, what happened, exactly?” Kyungsoo asks Chanyeol in jest.

“It was an accident,” Chanyeol muttered, still not looking at either of them.

“Yeah, an accident,” Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “Like, he kissed me first, and _accidentally_ slipped his hands into my pants. Good one, Chanyeol,”

“OH MY GOD I TOLD YOU I WAS DRUNK,” Chanyeol squeals.

“THEN STOP DRINKING YOU LITTLE—”

Kyungsoo clears his throat. “So are the two of you dating now?”

“Not really. I would’ve liked to, honestly, but Chanyeol’s a scared little pussy who’s afraid of commitment.”

“Damn. Now I own Jongdae some money. Why don’t the two of you just properly fuck each other and date already? It’s been seven years goddamit.”

Chanyeol groans and hides his head in his hands. Baekhyun remains indifferent, and Kyungsoo snorts out a laugh.

“Speaking of, I heard from Jongdae.” Baekhyun suddenly perks up. “Soo, you started dating again? That’s great. Who’s the guy? Or, uh, girl?”

Kyungsoo leans back, pulls out his phone to see a text from the person they were talking about. “You’ll be surprised.”

_I’m here._

“Hey, hyung,”

A body suddenly settles on his lap, light but solid and warm. There are arms on Kyungsoo’s shoulders, then a peck on his cheek, and suddenly Jongin slides into the booth right beside Kyungsoo, giving both Baekhyun and Chanyeol a cheeky grin.

“Hi,” Jongin greets sheepishly.

Chanyeol drops his beer. “Holy shit.”

Kyungsoo shares a knowing laugh with Jongin, and suddenly the second time he falls for the same face in this lifetime doesn’t seem too bad.


End file.
